Alabama

YOUR VIEW: Race based voting

As the race for the White House intensifies in the final weeks of the campaign, one question being asked is, "Are black people supporting President Obama mainly because he is black?"

I always find this question amusing because I never see where white folks are asked if they are supporting Mitt Romney because he is white.To be sure, there are some black voters who support the president simply because of a sense of pride in Obama smashing what for blacks is the ultimate glass ceiling.But the majority of African Americans are just like any other voter group in America in that we make our decisions based on our values and interests.

On the surface, I might appear to be a prime candidate to support the GOP.As a successful, retired military officer I am not dependent on government, see myself as a victim, or feel entitled to anything that I have not earned.So I guess I am not in that 47% of Americans Romney wrote off.But I have no use for the Republican Party.

Like any other informed citizen, I have studied the positions of the parties and candidates on both foreign and domestic issues.I solidly support President Obama because I share his vision for America over that of Mitt Romney.I am also angered by Republican attempts to exploit the racial divide in this country.

At the Republican National Convention, the party did it's best to showcase prominent African Americans such as Condoleezza Rice and Artur Davis in an attempt to portray diversity.While some blacks have found a home in the GOP, I could not be comfortable in a party that increasingly is employing old race-baiting, "Southern Strategy" tactics to manipulate working-class whites in order to increase white voter strength and dilute the black vote.Hence we have efforts such as Romney's "welfare president" TV campaign and the party's ongoing efforts to suppress the black vote.

The modern day "Party of Lincoln" no longer represents the values and interests of most African Americans.It left us a long time ago so don't insult our intelligence with silly questions suggesting otherwise.